Health Information

Healthy Eating: Changing Your Eating Habits

Introduction

The food you eat can affect your health and your risk for certain
diseases. To eat healthier food, you may need to change some of your daily
habits. You also may need to change some things in your environment. Your
environment includes everything around you, like your home or the place you
work.

You don't need to make huge changes to eat healthier. And
you don't have to change your habits all at the same time. It's best to set
small goals and change your habits a little bit at a time. Over time, small
changes can make a big difference in your health.

This information
will help you make useful changes for healthy eating.

Changing your eating habits and your environment can help you
eat healthier foods.

A healthy diet is good for your overall
health. It also can help you reach a healthy weight and stay there.

To improve your eating habits, it's best to make small lifestyle
changes that you can keep doing over time.

How can you change your eating habits?

To eat a
healthy diet, you may need to make some changes. Remember that you can change
your eating habits a little bit at a time. Small changes are easier to make and
can lead to better health.

Here are some ways to make healthy
changes in your eating habits:

Keep more fruits, low-fat dairy products (low-fat milk and
low-fat yogurt), vegetables, and whole-grain foods at home and at work. Focus
on adding healthy food to your diet, rather than just taking unhealthy foods
away.

Try to eat a family meal every day at the
kitchen or dining table. This will help you focus on eating healthy
meals.

Buy a healthy-recipe book, and cook for yourself. Chew gum
when you cook so you won't be tempted to snack on the
ingredients.

Pack a healthy lunch and snacks for work. This lets
you have more control over what you eat.

Put your snacks on a plate
instead of eating from the package. This helps you control how much you
eat.

Don't skip or delay meals, and be sure to schedule your
snacks. If you ignore your feelings of hunger, you may end up eating too much
or choosing an unhealthy snack. If you often feel too hungry, it can cause you
to focus a lot on food.

Eat your meals with others when you can. Relax and enjoy
your meals, and don't eat too fast. Try to make healthy eating a pleasure, not
a chore.

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How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.